First let me tell you that this Kitchen Renovation has been building for a very long time. A builder grade kitchen had it’s start with white laminated slab doors and numerous paint colors over the years. Imagine these doors with NO molding. Yup same cabinet doors. And yes you can add trim and paint laminated doors. I’ll go into that later. The first remodel we built in the refrigerator wall and the small side cabinet that we call the cubby.
Then about 9 years ago we replaced the countertops with granite put in a new sink and faucet, added can lights, and a light in the cubby. We also opened up one lower cabinet to accommodate sliding trays.
Two years ago our refrigerator went out, which momentarily buckled our floor and sent water running into our freshly renovated lower level room. This sent me to Nebraska Furniture Mart in search of a new refrigerator. I knew the one I wanted so I thought this was going to be an easy fix. I had done my research.
The fridge had to be counter depth because our dishwasher has to be able to open in front of the refrigerator. I had been eyeballing this refrigerator for 2 Years just waiting for the happy day when the 20 year old refrigerator would give out. I just didn’t expect it to be so sneaky and leak water everywhere. I was so naive.
You can just barely see the fridge and door handle here. Yes the refrigerator was almond! Designers have their problem child’s too.
The floors settled down and the happy delivery day came and the refrigerator was installed. As I go to sign off I notice one big issue. The dishwasher door couldn’t be opened. If I slid the refrigerator all the way back into it’s cavity I couldn’t get the fridge doors open.
The drivers left me with the use of this fridge and I set off yet again for NFM to find a different fridge. Let’s just say that 2 more refrigerators later we ended up with the original purchase. After much discussion we decide we could make this one work. We loved it, there is a whole separate drawer for soda’s!
Fast forward a few weeks, and my granddaughter is graduating from high school, and she asked us to host her graduation party in our back yard. Of course I say sure, be happy to, thinking we might have 40-50 people. This is 2019 before the days of Covid and seniors could still celebrate.
The pressure is on. We had to get this fridge problem solved, so we can open the doors! We could only open them part way, and we had to angle our body just right to get anything in and out, and we could only use one side.
Now most people would say “Call the Contractor” but not the husband and I. No, we have to do this ourselves because you know “we can”. How big of a deal is this, we only need 3 more inches. It only means taking out the upper cabinet, giving it a rebuild and then removing all the walls surrounding the fridge and leaving only the facade of the side cabinet to gain our 3 inches. No problem except that meant ordering new drawers. I had just put the drawers in about two years before.
This photo was taken before the drawers were put in. I had padded the inside of this cabinet with burlap and then I trimmed it out with black fabric tape and nailheads. I really liked this cubby.
Oh and then I asked my granddaughter how many people we were expecting and she said “Oh about 100” I choked, I nodded and smiled and said OOOKKK. Our home is very small with only 1400 s/f and 1 bathroom. May 19th can be quite cold, and my beloved 93 year old mother is dying. This is going to be very interesting.
After weeks of trying to synchronizing our schedules we started this project on April 4, 2019.
The demo done, I suggest to the husband that he go down and get the air nailer which he had never used. He thought it was a frivolous purchase when I was renovating the lower level. I on the other hand knew this was going to be a huge time saver and fun too. Anyway he begrudgingly brings it upstairs and the first time he pulled the trigger he was sold, and I never got my hands on it again; Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea. He’s the hammer and nail guy and I’m the trim carpenter. He would come home from work every night and start in, and I split my time between, work, home and staying with my mom.
Inside the cabinet with the old facade and new plywood starting to take shape.
New cabinet door for above the refrigerator to match the other doors.
We both agreed that we would get this part of the project done so it looked good and functioned for the party, and then we could do the fine tuning after the party. Seemed like a reasonable plan.
The cubby with the new drawers and a secret drawer. Well it would help if the picture was straight!
We finished Friday May 17, and Saturday morning I’m standing on the step stool accessorizing the cabinet and the step stool collapses underneath me which sends me to the floor in a loud crash of body, stool, and crockery. The husband sleeps!
Laying on the floor evaluating my status I come to the conclusion that I’m probably ok but what’s going on with my toes? Well I don’t have time for this, so I carry on, getting things put back in order and start getting ready for this huge party we’re having the next day.
We have had the best deck parties and a small wedding over the 40 years we’ve lived in this house and a 54 degree day was not going to deter me. Somehow I had even managed to get all the flowers planted in the pots and baskets around the yard. You can’t have a bunch of strangers come to your house and not have everything looking tip top right!
54 degrees what to do… hmmm? A huge basket full of lap throws, the fire pit and cheap Adirondack chairs from Home Depot and you’ve got a great party. The house and my large deck and yard handled the crowd perfectly. Some one would set a lap throw down and another person would pick it up to warm themselves it was perfect. No social distancing here! At one point, the husband and I collapsed in the Adirondack chairs stationed to the back of the yard with the fire pit and agreed we had well over 100 people and a great party.
If you’ve hung in there with me this long thank you so much. In the next kitchen post I will get into the nuts and bolts of customizing your kitchen so you can take advantage of every inch of space. Even though this kitchen is tiny we have it to a good place now. Stay tuned.
Shelley
